Kyuubi: Ninja of Konoha
by Zyrano
Summary: Naruto dies on the unfinished bridge in wave-country, but just before he departs towards his afterlife he offers the Kyuubi a deal. A deal the kitsune cannot decline: his freedom. But that freedom comes at a price.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

**Chapter 1: Death of a Hero**

Sasuke's newly awakened sharingan tracked the senbon Haku, if he remembered right, had just thrown. He saw that the deadly needles would hit Naruto, who was lying helpless on the ground. Sasuke knew that if he didn't do anything, the senbon would kill Naruto. Before he knew what he was doing, he was moving to intercept the senbon. But it was not to be, his right leg gave out under him as soon as he took his first step towards Naruto's prone form. Helplessly he saw the senbon hit Naruto whose body twitched twice and then lay still, too still.

Reaching back Sasuke found the needles in his leg and yanked them viciously out. Pulling himself towards Naruto he checked for a pulse, a slight rising of the chest, anything that would indicate that his teammate hadn't perished. Sasuke found no such thing. Naruto was dead, killed instantly by the needles piercing his neck and back.

"I sincerely regret that I had to kill him," Haku told him. "But for Zabuza-san's dreams it had to be done."

"Shut up!" Fighting against the weakness in his leg Sasuke stood up and glared at his masked enemy. _Why is it always me who survives?_ His fists began shaking with barely suppressed rage. "Naruto was an annoying eyesore, but he was my teammate." He pulled out a kunai and forced himself into a ready position. "I'm going to kill you!"

His eyes focused only on his opponent, rage filling his whole being, the only thought remained in Sasuke's head: _KILL THE BASTARD!_

Haku was taken aback by the considerable killing intent his opponent was focusing on him. What was worrying him more than the killing intent were the eyes. At first Sasuke's sharingan had unsettled him, but he quickly realized that these eyes couldn't fully track him and he still was too fast for his opponent. But one hit could be all it would take.

"Let's end this once and for all!" Sasuke called to Haku and readied himself.

As both fighters got ready to finish the fight, nobody paid Naruto's dead body any mind. Thus both of them missed the moment when the body after five minutes of being dead suddenly sucked in a deep breath. But they did not miss the pulse of chakra that jump-started the heart back into beating. How could they not notice it?

_What is this feeling of dread? It's coming from Naruto's body. _Haku watched with a detached kind of horror as Naruto slowly sat up and then got on his feet. Seeing the senbon, that were piercing vital parts of Naruto's body, slowly being pushed out by the rapidly healing flesh only added to the dread he was already experiencing. Then Naruto's eyes met his and Haku for the first time in his short life knew true mortal fear. The eyes that were staring at him weren't human; they were blood red with vertical slits for pupils and held an unbelievable old and cruel intelligence.

"**Give up, you cannot win!**" The voice was a deep raw growling.

"I'm sorry but I can't do that," Haku answered and attacked.

Sasuke's sharingan tracked Haku charge. He could see every little movement with perfect clarity. Even the smallest twitch of a muscle was seen and immediately committed to memory. Then Haku reached Naruto and whatever happened was too fast for his sharingan to track.

On moment he was charging the orange clad blond, the next moment his face exploded in pain and Haku was flying backwards. He barely even registered it when he hit the ice-mirror behind himself and then smashed through it. He also did not notice himself hitting the ground and skipping along it like a stone skipped over water. What he did notice just as he came to a stop was that Zabuza was restrained by nin-dogs and the Copy-Ninja held a ball of highly condensed lightning chakra in his right hand and was about to charge Zabuza, then consciousness departed Haku and he knew no more.

* * *

Kakashi felt the spike of evil chakra too, and he knew just whose chakra this was. Panic threatened to take a hold of his thoughts, but he fought the panic back down. Opening his senses he tried to get an idea as to what was happening inside that dome of ice-mirrors. _I don't think that the seal broke, but I still better end this fight quickly._

"I'm sorry to cut your fun short Zabuza, but I'm going to end this now."

"And how are going to do that? In this mist your funky eye is next to useless!"

Not answering Zabuza's taunting question Kakashi quickly pulled a scroll out of the many pockets of his vest. Holding the scroll in one hand he dipped the thumb of his free hand into the blood of the wound on his chest. With a flick of the wrist he unfurled the scroll, at the same time he dragged his bloodied thump over the script on the scroll. With practiced motions he twirled the scroll around himself a few times before rolling it up again and catching it in both hands. Immediately he started forming handseals with the scroll still firmly held in both hands.

"Summoning: Earth Tracking Fangs", Kakashi called out after he finished the seals and slammed his hands with the scroll on the ground. Immediately black sealing script spread out from where his hand touched the ground. "It's over Zabuza!"

The missing-nin felt the ground shake and opened his eyes, but by that point it was already too late. Kakashi's summoned nin-dogs burst out of ground around him and restrained his arms and legs. The Copy-Ninja wasn't idle while his dogs were holding down Zabuza; he formed three handseals and then gathered his chakra into the palm of his right hand.

The advanced version of his sole original attack quickly reached its ready state. Kakashi was about to lean forward to begin his short dash to end the life of the missing-nin when one of the ice-mirrors exploded outward. A short figure flew across the bridge and bounced on the ground before stopping right between him and Zabuza. It was the fake hunter-nin; only now his face looked like one singular bruise. The crunch of stepped on ice alerted him to someone else stepping out of the dome; he spared a quick glance towards the sound.

_It's Naruto._ Short-lived relieve filled Kakashi at seeing his student leave the ice-dome under his own power. Short lived because he almost immediately noticed the differences in how Naruto moved. He moved like a predator stalking its prey. Never would have Kakashi thought that Naruto could look so much like a demon straight from the deepest pits of hell, but with the blood-red eyes, the deepened whisker-marks, the even wilder hair and the twitching clawed hands that was the only comparison Kakashi could come up with. Slowly and purposefully Naruto stalked towards them, the blood red eyes never once leaving Haku's prone form.

He finally stopped beside the previously masked boys from and lifted his right foot to crush Haku's windpipe but stopped. For a long moment he simply stood there, foot poised for a killing blow that wasn't coming. With the drain from maintaining his Lightning Edge technique finally becoming too much, Kakashi allowed the technique to dissipate. _There are other ways to dispose of Zabuza and he's not going anywhere._

Sniffing the air Naruto frowned and put his foot back down without killing Haku before he turned towards Zabuza. The large missing-nin wanted to taunt the boy for not being able to kill but the look in those red eyes stopped him. Those were the eyes of someone who could kill without remorse. He simply had chosen not to; Zabuza realized.

"If I terminate your client, will you leave without causing any more trouble for us?" There was no emotion whatsoever in that cold voice.

"What do you mean; kill my client?" _What_ _is that brat thinking?_

Wordlessly Naruto pointed toward the unfinished end of the bridge and a sudden wind filled with the vilest chakra Zabuza had ever felt blew the remaining mist away, revealing Gato and an army of two-bit mercenaries. The fat vertically challenged business-man attempted to speak but a concentrated spike of raw killing intend, no not killing intend it was bloodlust, silenced him and had the mercenaries take a nervous step back.

"Well what will it be? You can die with them or you can watch them die and live for another day. Choose!"

"Kill them!" Zabuza didn't hesitate in his decision; he had no doubt the boy could and would kill him and he wasn't ready for death yet.

"So be it!" Naruto intoned and stalked a few steps towards Gato's group.

"Naruto, what are you do…" Kakashi started but Naruto was ignoring him.

"Be honored, you will be my first kills after twelve years!" Naruto told the group.

He started making handseals; a very particular series of handseals. A series of handseals that caused Kakashi's eyes go wide. A quick look towards Zabuza told him the missing-nin was seeing the same thing as he had the same wide eyed look of panic on his face as Kakashi himself had under his mask. _He couldn't possibly know that technique!_ But Naruto apparently did as his sealing came to an end with the pattern double tiger-seal of that technique. Kakashi didn't think, he just dismissed his nin-dogs and threw himself flat on the ground all the while yelling at Sasuke, who had at some point staggered out of the dome, to do the same. He hit the ground at the same time as Zabuza who had thrown himself over his accomplice.

"**Fire release: King's Fire!"** Naruto's voiced bellowed.

Kakashi watched with truly morbid fascination as Naruto's chest swelled to grotesque levels as he breathed in. Then he breathed out and the very fires of Hell descended onto earth. Hot air from the back blast almost immediately sucked all moisture out of the air. The roar of the superheated flames was almost deafening in its intensity. Gato and his men were instantly vaporized, nothing not even ashes would remain of them, but the King's Fire didn't stop at that; causing the large stones of the bridge to melt into thick glowing-red sludge and igniting the boat Gato had come on from the heat alone even though it was dozens of meters down on the water. Then it all stopped as Naruto finished breathing out.

Kakashi couldn't believe it; Naruto had successfully used the King's Fire and hadn't killed himself in the process! Slowly he got to his feet and surveyed the destruction. A path of molten stone led from Naruto towards the end of the bridge before fanning out to the full width of the bridge. As expected there was nothing left but molten stone at the end of the bridge.

"What the hell are you retarded tree-huggers teaching your genin?" Zabuza demanded hotly also staring at the molten end of the bridge.

Kakashi wanted to vehemently deny ever even mentioning that technique but didn't get the chance as Naruto turned around towards Zabuza. _He doesn't even look winded!_

"Do not forget our deal," he warned the missing-nin. Zabuza only nodded mutely; there was no way in hell he wanted to face someone capable of using the King's Fire. Naruto turned to Kakashi, "We should get those workers at the foot of the bridge to a healer or something." He held up a hand to stall Kakashi's coming protest. "We will talk later. Meet me at the lake where we first fought Zabuza around nine."

That said he started walking to the beginning of the bridge giving Kakashi no choice but to agree.

* * *

Somehow Naruto had managed to slip away even though Kakashi had kept an eye on him while carrying the workers to a healer. What Sasuke had told about their fight inside the dome of ice-mirrors had Kakashi seriously worried; but he didn't believe the seal to be broken. After all if it had been broken the Kyuubi would have killed them all the very moment it had escaped from its prison. Zabuza had also slipped away after getting the boy Haku checked; he had a broken nose, several broken off teeth and a badly cracked cheekbone.

After ordering Sasuke and Sakura to keep watch over Tazuna and his family he had set out to find his last student. It wasn't really hard to find him; the large bonfire was a dead giveaway. Coming closer Kakashi realized what he was seeing wasn't a bonfire but a lit funeral pyre. Naruto also wasn't alone; Zabuza and Haku were standing beside him and staring into the fire. He gave the two missing-nin a look; Zabuza shrugged in reply.

"There's no way I'm going to miss this explanation," the swordsman said.

"Who's that fire for?" Kakashi asked his student.

"Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto answered.

Kakashi instantly was alert. "What do you mean? You're not dead!"

"I'm not, but then again I'm not your student." He turned to look Kakashi in the eye; his eyes were still red with vertical slits for pupils while his whisker-marks and his spiky hair had receded to their normal states. "Naruto died today on the bridge. This fire is to honor his sacrifice and his determination to protect those he held dear to his heart."

"What do you mean?" Kakashi's voice had taken on a slight shaky quality.

"Before he departed for the afterlife, Naruto appeared in front of my cage and offered me a deal. His body and freedom of the seal for 56 years of service to Konoha, the promise not to destroy Konoha after that time as well as the promise to protect his precious persons, namely the Hokage, the proprietors of Ichiraku Ramen, the Hokage's Grandson and the entire Team 7, no matter what. Obviously I accepted."

Kakashi felt weak in the knees.

"So if you're not the brat who are you then?" Zabuza demanded. "And why does Hatake look ready to shit his pants."

"Did you hear about the Kyuubi's attack on Konoha twelve years ago?" Zabuza nodded; really just about everyone everywhere had heard about that. "What you do not know about that night is the fact the Fourth Hokage did not or rather could not kill the Kyuubi, so he did the next best thing; he sealed the Kyuubi into a newborn. That newborn was later named Naruto Uzumaki. Which means that while this is still Naruto's body the one in control is me, the Kyuubi."

For a moment Zabuza wanted to wave this off as bullshit but then he remembered the King's Fire. After all no human should be able to use that technique and live.

"What did you mean, to honor his sacrifice?" Kakashi had found his voice again.

"The Shiki Fuin is actually more like a curse than a seal. When one soul is cursed, two are send to hell; the first being the one to receive the curse, the second being the one who cast the curse. That rule of curses cannot under any circumstances be broken," 'Naruto' explained. "The Fourth who used the Shiki Fuin was already sent to hell but my soul was meant to remain in this realm until Naruto died and to provide him with my power. When he broke the seal to release me someone had to take my place as the one to be sent to hell." He fixed Kakashi with a red-eyed stare. "Naruto was willing to pay the ultimate price to protect those whom he held dear. Even I cannot help but admire such determination and I will not allow anyone to sully his memory."

Kakashi sat down hard and stared at the flames without really seeing them. _I've failed you sensei; I couldn't keep him safe and now he's sacrificed himself to keep me safe._ "What happens now?"

"That's for you to decide; after all I'm your subordinate now. As long as you do it as the commander of Team 7 I am bound by my word to follow your orders. You should rejoice the fact that you now have the strongest being on the face of the world under your command. And if that does not help, you should at least feel lucky that Naruto considered you to be one of his precious persons; for I certainly did not forget what part of my anatomy you aimed for twelve years ago with that Lightning Edge of yours." Kakashi flinched; at that time it had seemed to be a good idea, after all every male has a weak spot there. "In case you truly have no idea; I would suggest only telling those who absolutely have to know and to keep the others in the dark. It wouldn't be impossible to 'serve' Konoha when everybody knows but it would make things unnecessarily complicated. But in the end it **is** your decision."

"I'll have to think about this," Kakashi sighed. "What should I call you?"

"I'll stick with Naruto for now; it's as good as any name and keeps the awkward questions away."

In silence they watched the fire burn down and finally go out. When the last embers died Naruto slowly stood up and started walking away from small town Tazuna lived in.

"There is an old cache of mine not far from here. I will go there and receive some things I will need to better serve as a ninja. I will return tomorrow at noon."

Kakashi let him go without comment and left shortly afterward for his bedroll in the guest-room of Tazuna's house.

* * *

_**Jutsu Scroll**_

**Fire release: King's Fire  
**The strongest of all fire techniques; this technique creates a single burst of firehot enough to melt stone like butter. This technique truly needs a humongous amount of chakra; in fact the amount is so high no ninja can successfully perform this technique without killing himself, it's because of this that the King's Fire is rated as a S-class suicide technique.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Here's the next chapter of Kyuubi: Ninja of Konoha. Enjoy.

With a bit of luck the next chapter of Duma will be finished before the weekend, but I can't guarantee that.

* * *

Kyuubi: Ninja of Konoha

Chapter 2: I'm like him, only worse

It wasn't common for jounin-senseis to bring their genin to after-mission reports. So when Kakashi arrived with Naruto in tow for the after-mission report for the wave-mission Sarutobi knew something had to be wrong even before he saw Naruto's new wardrobe. Gone was the orange jumpsuit, replaced with black standard issue ninja-wear. The dark blue cloth of his forehead-protector worn as a bandana to hide the sun-kissed blond hair except a few stray hairs. A mask like the one Kakashi was famous for wearing, either borrowed from the copy-ninja or bought at the same shop, hid Naruto's face. The dark shades, impenetrable like the ones worn by the Aburame, made it impossible to see the eyes.

Basically Naruto in the course of one mission had gone from hyperactive most surprising ninja ever seen by the element countries to a faceless assassin who would calmly hide in a dark corner until the perfect opportunity to strike his target down presented itself. Though maybe a bit of the original loud personality remained. The sword on Naruto's back wasn't a ninja-to or even a longer katana it was a full-blown nodachi; almost as long as Naruto was tall; and it certainly wasn't just a lump of sharpened steel.

From the moment this new Naruto had set foot in his office the old Hokage had felt the faint malevolence emanating from the sword. Even without that he would have recognized the nodachi for what it was; one of the great-demon swords forged by the insane blacksmith Muramasa hundreds of years ago. After all the nickname the Professor did not just come from his almost encyclopaedic knowledge of jutsus.

Kakashi had just finished his recount of the events after the battle on the bridge. Hiruzen wanted to call the copy-ninja a god-damn liar, wanted to scold Naruto for talking Kakashi into playing such a sick trick on him, he more than anything wanted to deny the truth he was staring at but couldn't. He couldn't for one simple reason; during the whole debriefing Naruto hadn't such much as twitched a single time. The Naruto he knew had always been bursting at the seems with energy, it was unthinkable for him to stand perfectly still like that for the whole debriefing.

"So it's true, Naruto is dead and you have taken over his body?" The old Hokage asked with a weary sigh.

"Yes." Even the voice was different; deeper, darker holding something primeval.

For a long time nobody said anything.

"What's going to happen now? You're obviously not going to destroy Konoha, or you would've already done so."

"As Hatake-sensei," Kakashi flinched at that, "already told you, my freedom came at a price. I had to give my word to serve Konoha for 56 years and I am bound by my word. How I do that depends at least partly on what you're going to do with what you've been just told."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm perfectly happy to be a small cog in the great machine that is Konoha, meaning acting like all the other ninja here; take on missions, obey orders from my superiors etc. If of course you do not want me here, I can also act from the shadows; track down enemies and traitors and deal with them before they become an acute threat to the village." He paused for a moment tilting his head slightly to the right obviously thinking about something. "I personally would prefer to stay in the village as that would make it easier for me to protect those Naruto held dear to his heart."

"How do I know you're not going to destroy Konoha from the inside? After all you already tried once."

For a moment time was turned back 12 years to the fateful day the demonic fox had attacked the village. Incomprehensible rage abruptly filled the spacious office and drove the air out of the two human's lungs. Eyes burning with rage so brightly they were visible through the dark shades bored into Hiruzen. "Do not question my word human! I'm a demon, my words binds me. If I give my word saying I'm going to do something then I will do it come heaven or hell!"

The terrible pressure let up allowing Kakashi and the Hokage to finally breathe again.

"So you will obey any order I give you?"

"As long as the order is one concerning my duties as a ninja of the Leaf and it doesn't directly endanger you, your grandson, the Ichiraku proprietors, Iruka Umino or the remaining members of Team 7, then yes I have to obey your orders."

"So I cannot order you to kill yourself?" The Hokage just had to ask.

"No, but you could send me on suicide missions, hoping something kills me. Though the chances of that happening are marginal at best."

The third Hokage pondered this. In perfect world he would have already send the demon away, actually in a perfect world the fox would have never attacked the Leaf in the first place and Naruto certainly wouldn't have sacrificed himself for his team-mates. Sadly this wasn't a perfect world and even worse he could actually see a use for a somewhat loyal demon-fox in his employ, as long as nobody else knew of this. Danzo was getting restless and while he had no concrete proof, Hiruzen was sure the crotchety bastard was planing something only waiting for a chance to take action.

"So you have to protect the members of Team 7, the Ichiraku proprietors, Iruka Umino, my grandson Konohamaru and myself at all costs?"

"Yes."

"Take of your glasses, please." Kyuubi did so. Looking the fox-demon straight in the eyes the third Hokage ordered. "Your orders are as follows. For now you are to continue to act like a member of Team 7. In two days I will officially announce that the leaf will host the next chunin-examinations starting in four days. Kakashi will nominate Team 7 for the exam. You're to participate in the exams and ensure that you and your team-mates make it to the end of the second round as the first two rounds will be team-based tests. During the third round, which will be 1 on 1 combat, you are to refrain from killing or dealing crippling damage to fellow ninja of the Leaf but still win the matches. After the exam you will be promoted to chunin and will receive new orders either from myself or Kakashi. During the exams you are to follow the instructions of the examiners. You are to disregard any orders not coming from myself or Kakashi if they contradict the order a just gave you. Have you understood your orders or do have any questions regarding these orders?"

"I have understood your orders and will follow them to the best of my ability. I have no further questions."

"Good, you may leave now. Kakashi, stay here."

* * *

_Two days later:_

With a sudden poof of smoke Kakashi appeared at the customary meeting-place of his team, only three hours late.

"You're late!" Sakura screeched in his direction.

But somehow the accusation had lost it's power since Naruto wasn't joining in anymore. In fact Naruto, or what looked to be Naruto, was sitting cross-legged on the ground apparently meditating and only now after Sakura had announced Kakashi's appearance opened his eyes.

"Sorry," he apologized, not really feeling like coming up with some unbelievable excuse for his tardiness.

"We won't be doing any missions today. So I'll see you here tomorrow at the usual time!"

"What? We waited for three hours for that?" Sakura angrily demanded but Kakashi had already vanished before she finished speaking. Her male team-mates were already on their feet, walking away in different directions.

_This is my chance!_ She thought and quickly ran after Sasuke. "Hey Sasuke-kun, how about we go eat something together since we aren't doing missions today?"

Her dark haired team-mate didn't bother to look at her when he replied. "Get lost."

Devastated Sakura stopped in the middle of the road and half expected Naruto to come bouncing up to her and ask her to get something to eat with him. But Naruto didn't come and he didn't ask her to go eat something with him. In fact he was already a good distance away.

_Okay, this is going to end now!_ New determination filling her she ran after her other team-mate.

"Hey Naruto, wait up!" He didn't stop, didn't even slow down. "What's wrong with you? Do you want to talk about it? We could go get something to eat and you could tell me what is bothering you."

"I'm not interested."

Sakura blinked, stunned by the flat reply. _Did Naruto just shoot me down? Now I know something really is wrong!_ A sudden strange shuffling coming from behind her stopped Sakura from demanding answers from Naruto. Looking back she saw they were followed by a square box, painted to look like a rock, with two small holes in the front-side.

"Is that obviously fake rock following us?"

"Yes." Naruto replied without bothering to stop or even look at the obviously fake rock.

"Aren't you going to do something about that?"

"Should I? They'll lose interest soon enough."

"AHA," a voice coming from the rock exclaimed before said rock exploded with a loud bang and lots of smoke.

"Too much gunpowder." Another voice coughed in the large cloud of smoke.

Slowly the smoke dissipated revealing Konohamaru and his two friends Udon and Moegi.

"I've seen through your dastardly plan, Boss!" Konohamaru exclaimed before looking around surprised. "Hey where'd he go?"

Surprised Sakura also started looking around finally spotting Naruto just walking into a side street, not having stopped walking during Konohamaru's dramatic appearance. The three children seemed to have spotted him also as they quickly ran after him with Sakura trailing behind.

When she rounded the corner that three wanna-be ninja had surrounded Naruto and had somehow managed to get him to stop walking.

"But Boss, you said you would play Ninja with us once you come back from that mission!" Konohamaru whined.

"Get lost punk, I've got better things to do!" Was Naruto's flat reply.

"You're mean! You're not my boss any longer!" The boy cried out and ran away around another corner.

Slowly approaching her strangely acting team-mate Sakura couldn't help but ask. "Don't you think you were a bit to harsh on him?"

Whatever he was going to say was left unsaid as from around the corner a loud 'ooof' was heard followed by a voice snapping. "Watch were you go shrimp!"

"Hey, let me go!" This was Konohamaru's voice sounding strangled.

"Have I told you that I hate unfriendly shrimps, who run into other people and then don't even apologize? Always makes me wanna kill them!"

Sakura could clearly hear Naruto's teeth grind as he walked toward the side-street the three young children had vanished into. What had happened was readily apparent, Konohamaru had run into an older boy wearing a Hidden Sand forehead-protector as did the girl beside him with the large fan strapped to her back.

"Drop the brat!", Naruto flat out ordered.

The boy holding up Konohamaru by the collar of his shirt blinked surprised then grinned. "And what will you do if I don't drop the brat, shorty?"

Sakura clearly saw Naruto's mask crinkle in a truly sadistic smile and a unnatural cold settled into her bones.

"I knew he would say that," Naruto's voice was a deep rumble full of dark anticipation.

Slowly he brought up his hands and began moving his fingers in intricate patterns clearly visible to the other boy. While Sakura had no idea what the meaning was, the cat-suited boy from Hidden Sand clearly understood what was going on. Eyes widening in shock he threw Konohamaru away from and made to get rid of the wrapped bundle on his back. But it was already too late, the contents of the bundle burst out of it's wrappings revealing itself to be a wooden puppet with four arms.

Two of these arms as well as the legs immediately wrapped themselves around the boy, pinning his arms to his sides immobilizing him. The free arms twitched, made loud clicking noises before suddenly foot long poisoned blades shot out of their wrists. One blade poised itself over his heart, while the slowly dug into the cat-eared hood directly above the place where the boys ear would be under the hood.

* * *

Temari didn't hesitate when she saw the strange Leaf-nin high-jack Karasu and immobilize her younger brother Kankuro. She grabbed her battle-fan and made to unsling it to blast the creepy ninja to smithereens. Her hands barely touched the metal of her fan when an arm reached around her from behind and the sharp point of a kunai caressed the flesh of her throat directly above her jugular-vein.

Out of the corner of her left eye she could see the same boy, who had high-jacked Karasu, leer at her over her shoulder with his mask pulled down. He pulled the fan off her back and threw the weapon neglectful away to the side where it landed with a clatter. His free hand suddenly painfully grabbed her breast, roughly kneading the sensitive flesh.

"Mhh," he hummed. "Y'know I could eat a peach for hours!" He said softly, leaning his head over her shoulder and licking her cheek.

"Let them go, or I'll kill you!" Temari never in her life had been so happy to hear her youngest brothers voice.

Carefully turning her head to the side his voice had come from, she saw Gaara hanging upside down from a large tree branch. Her elation lasted only for a moment, because the next another masked Leaf-nin, identical to the first two, appeared directly beside Gaara. There was no warning, no smoke, no sound, nothing. One moment Gaara was alone the next he wasn't. The masked nin reached out lightening fast, grabbed Gaara by the left shoulder and dug two fingers deep into the flesh of his shoulder.

Sand leaped from out of the gourd on her brother's back to crush the one who had dared to touch it's host. There was a pulse of dark tainted chakra and Gaara gasped in pain, his knees unloccking with only the hand on his shoulder keeping him in place. The sand that had been only moments from attacking shuddered and then fell to the ground, shortly followed by the sand from the dissolving gourd and then Gaara's sand amour.

"W-what are you?" Temari asked horrified. Never before had she seen someone so easily and casually deal with her youngest brother.

"I'm like him," the one holding Gaara in place started, "only worse," the one molesting her finished.


End file.
